Marmalade Boy
by hercircumstance
Summary: 9th Doctor, set between “Dalek” and “The Long Game”


Marmalade Boy  
By hercircumstance  
Rating: G (but without any fluffy bunnies, honest. Plus one man-eating plant. Does that put me to at least PG?)  
9th Doctor, Between "Dalek" and "The Long Game"

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"Adam!" Rose turned a corner and found herself in the pool room. She could have sworn this should have led to the library, but the Tardis was being less than helpful that morning.

She once spent two hours looking for her bedroom only to find herself in an endless loop until she remembered the Doctor saying something about skipping backwards and counting by twos while making four consecutive left turns should she ever get lost. She wound up back in her room sore and cranky, but at least back in her room.

"Adam! Breakfast!" Her voice echoed around the large stone room. The pool was steaming with warmth, almost like it had been prepared just for her. She wasn't going to be distracted so easily though.

"Think that's a distraction?" She said in annoyance.

She backed out of the doorway and shuffled down the hall, poking her head into closets that should have been bedrooms and greenhouses that should have been locker rooms.

"Adam!"

"Lose a pet or something?" An amused voice drifted out of the room she was just about to peek into.

It was the library, of course, and it was the Doctor, drinking tea and balancing a piece of toast in one hand. Her eyebrows shot up a fraction of an inch when she noticed he was wearing a giant white bathrobe.

The leather armchair he sat in faced a large fireplace and next to it, on a table, stood a stack of books she had pulled off the shelf a while back. History books from the future. Science fiction, really. Only it really happened, or would happen. Quite tricky to think about, actually. She was researching a future stop. A nice date where nothing horrid happened where they could relax and enjoy the culture.

"Well, I see you've found breakfast at least." She leaned against the door frame, not willing to abandon her search yet and commit herself to an afternoon of bickering with the Doctor.

He was the ultimate distraction and whole days seemed to be eaten up by one of his conversations. She didn't want to come out of it only to find Adam starved down some abandoned corridor a week later.

"We're out of marmalade." He wagged the toast at her after taking an entirely too large a bite.

"That's not all we're out of. You seen Adam today?"

"Hm?" He feigned confusion.

"Y'know. Chap, medium height," She held her hand up just a little above her own head for scale,"twenty something, a bit pretty - according to you."

"He wanted to see my laboratory."

"Let me guess. You were just too happy to give him directions right?"

He smiled expectantly.

"What was it? Three doors down the main hall, a right at the pillar, through the green hallway, up three flights of stairs, and then four doors to the right of the man-eating plant, right? Or did you neglect to tell him that last bit."

"He seems to do well looking out for himself. He'll find his way. George hasn't eaten anyone for a century, at least. I wouldn't worry. You've seen how he runs, if I recall." The Doctor shrugged, but his voice had a bit of edge to it. Inviting trouble.

"Don't start that." Then she did it, stepped beyond the threshold of the door.

"Start what?" He was on to the tea then. Some kinda of blackberry if she remembered right. She was too excited to notice what she put on that morning. She wanted to show Adam the library and all of its futuristic histories of Earth before he got distracted with the millions or so other interesting things that could be found on the Tardis.

"Don't start at him and his running. You weren't there. You wouldn't know. And if we start talking about that why not talk about the rest of it." She threatened, coming around and looking him straight in the eye. "Didn't think so." She said, voice pitched slightly higher than intended.

He hadn't said a word about the Dalek since they left Utah and he wasn't likely going to start any time soon. He was overly cheerful, tinkering about the Tardis, and busy uncovering a hidden trove of bathrobes as well apparently. Over compensating.

"Tea, Rose?" He said tiredly.

"Right." Rose took the offered cup he poured and didn't flinch as the bitter blackberry burned a path down her tightened throat. They were both over compensating and it was exhausting.

She thought Adam would dispel the gloom, but he wasn't doing such a good job of it while mucking about the bowels of the ship while she was left participating in the general sham of cheerfulness that had settled in his wake. True, that wasn't the only reason she wanted him along.

She sat cross-legged on a animal fur in front of the fire. She wasn't sure of its species, or even what planet it was from, but it looked like it had been there since the middle ages at least. Which was why she had become fond of it. It was permanent.

"I'll go get changed and we can look for him." He said seriously.

She smiled slightly, eyes staring into the fire.

They both jumped when they heard footsteps at the open doorway.

"I found breakfast. Hope you don't mind I finished off the tea." Adam looked like he had been up all night, and the oversized flannel he dug out of his bedroom closet did little to dispel the image of a street urchin. In one hand was a piece of scrap machinery and the other the cup of tea.

Rose was about to ream him. For wandering off among other things, but she caught the Doctor's eye and bit her lip.

"How was the laboratory?" She said instead.

"Fantastic!" He grinned. "I'm lucky it is right next to the kitchen or I wouldn't have smelled the toast and forget to eat completely."

The tickle of laughter caught in her throat and soon she buried her face in her hands, laughing that choked laughter that threatened to change to tears.

"I -" Adam began.

"Go get changed. Something late Earth year 6060, or there abouts. We are going on holiday." The Doctor ordered Adam with a wave of his hand towards the door. "Closet, three doors down, up a flight, and to your left. Can't miss it. Mind George." He said as an afterthought. He was already looking down at Rose who was curled up on the rug facing the fire, still laughing hysterically.

Adam nodded, an excited look on his face as he dashed in the direction he had been ordered.

"Rose." The Doctor said gently.

Rose rolled over onto her back, slightly hitching with laughter, though she was out of breath and more than a little tired.

"Go get changed."

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The End


End file.
